It was a wet, cold day here, a good time fill the house with warmth and aromas from the kitchen. I had green salad on the menu for tonight’s dinner and was out of croutons, so it was time to make another batch.
I make my own croutons, and my favorite raw material is bagels. A 1 pound bag of day-old bagels are cheap, crisp up nicely, and have a great flavor when toasted. Here’s the recipe I’ve developed for these croutons.
1 lb of bagels, diced roughly into 1/2 inch pieces.
1 stick of melted butter
2t seasoned salt
1/2t onion powder
1t garlic powder
1 1/2T Italian seasoning
3T grated parmesan cheese
Preheat your oven on bake to 500 degrees for a conventional oven, or on pure convection at 480 degrees for a convection oven. Put the diced bagels into a large metal pan and drizzle the melted butter over the pieces. Stir well to thoroughly coat the pieces with butter. Sprinkle the seasonings over the bagel pieces and mix well until the seasonings are well incorporated. Place in oven and watch closely.
Stir regularly as bagel surfaces begin to brown. You will need to stir more frequently as the moisture in the bread is baked off. When fairly well evenly browned, remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Store in a zipper bag at room temperature. They are best after a day or two, but be sure you bag them and get them put away before they disappear, you’ll find yourself snacking on them as soon as they’re out of the oven.
Experiment with the seasonings, I’ve done Southwest style, Cajun, and tried a little worchestershire too.
And seeing that it’s the season in my part of the country, here’s a pic of the other snack I had today…
It’s Morel Time!
Front page
One word:
Carbs.
I am genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and was able to cut my cholesterol by 70 points by cutting out the carbs (and some other things). The croûtons look tasty though.
What did you do to the morels?
Just pan fried them a little?
I'll slice morels in half
(after a good soak to clean them, and drain them well) lightly season them and toss them in a bag with flour. Then pan fry in butter over medium heat until browned.
Not particularly healthy with all that fat, but Wow, are they good!
Yum, croutons
I love them, but have never made my own. Isn’t that silly?
My partner makes all our bread. I will have to take some of the older bread and do this with it, to get myself some croutons!
Morels?
Morel are for the wine drinkers, i.e. Obama supporters and not for me. I Kitchen a lot and long ago I decided to go with inexpensive food. I find it liberating and the quality of the final product depends on fresh ingredients and the ability of the cook.
Don’t take me too seriously. If you like morels, good for you.
Morels are not expensive at all
If you forage for them, like I do. I would never pay the prices they get for them at the market. Spending time in the woods is a frequent activity for me - hunting morels, picking wild black raspberries (for wine making), wildflower and bird watching.
And they don’t get any fresher than when you pick them yourself!
When is the morel-hunting season?
I’ve had them, they’re delicious….
You know, “Food I found in the woods” would be a good series of posts ;-) though perhaps it varies by locality too much to be useful. I don’t know.
Up here, mushrooms, fiddleheads, and so forth.
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
In southern wisconsin
Right now. Generally early to mid-May at this latitude. Later further north, earlier to the south. And it varies a bit from year to year depending on weather. Once they start coming on, you’ve got about 2 weeks and it’s over.
Yuum!
As a convert to the fat is good crowd, it’s not the fat I wouldn’t like, but the flour. But, mmm, does that sound good!
Yuum Yuum!
Iphie, do you think that same tasty-goodness technique could be applied to lo-carb tofu bits?
Pan-fry in coconut oil.
I fry it in coconut oil, it adds a very subtle coconut flavor — I spice it for whatever I’m putting it in. If you do it, make sure you drain it well, and press the water out as much as you can before you fry it
I have a recipe somewhere for a spicy peanut dipping sauce that I’ve been thinking of making with almond butter instead — much lower carb and so good for you — I bet it would be really good with the fried tofu — sort of a tofu satay.
Coconut oil, as it turns out, is actually good for us, and not the devil’s food that we’ve been told for so long — just make sure it’s the non-hydrogenated kind (it’s the hydrogenation that causes the problems).
Thx, that sounds wonderful! n/t
>^..^<
Food I found in the woods yesterday
on a visit to the local arboretum & next-door park, included (green baby) peaches, apricots, tomatoes and (ripe) mulberries.
Jeebus, tomatoes?!
You guys are just a little ahead of Zone 5b!
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.